from BARDO

The stars are in our belly; the Milky Way our umbilicus.

Is it a consolation that the stuff of which we’re made

is star-stuff too?


– That wherever you go you can never fully disappear –

dispersal only: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen.


Tree, rain, coal, glow-worm, horse, gnat, rock.


Roselle Angwin

Sunday 30 November 2014

folding the wings

'Fold your wings, my soul,
those wings you had spread wide to soar 
to the terrestrial peaks where the light is 
most ardent: it is for you simply to wait
the descent of the Fire – 
supposing it to be willing to take possession of you.'

~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin





6 comments:

  1. These words are deeply affecting, Roselle; universal, relevant to everyone. But I have emailed you.

    from Miriam x

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  2. They are beautiful and my thoughts are with you.
    love, Marg x

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  3. You are right, Miriam, I keep reading this. There is so much said in so few words...This morning I read in my little book Watch for the Light, readings for Advent, Sylvia Plath's Black Rook in Rainy Weather, and though it is written from a rather different perspective, the last lines echo a similar vein
    " The wait's begun again,
    The long wait for the angel,
    For that rare random descent"
    The lines you chose of Teilhard de Chardin, seem somehow to place us all both squarely in our own and each other's hearts and at the same time fully into the hands of the All, reminding us of the need to return continuously to the stillpoint at the centre of our dance; the quiet place where Silence itself can speak. This is indeed in every sense, across the earth, a time of deep waiting. Love and thoughts with you, Roselle, may Fire, by Grace, descend . Cx

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  4. Miriam, Marg, C - thank you all for your kindness and support (and to others of you who've emailed me). This is a challenging time of year in the northern hemisphere, isn't it - going into the dark and the cold where things have to be let go of to return to earth; the death part of the life/death/life cycle. As some of you have guessed, my family is experiencing this on a more personal level right now - this iron-hard time of waiting.

    C, what lovely apposite lines in your quote.

    My love and thanks to you all. Rx

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  5. May you see their lights on the path ahead
    When the road you walk is dark.
    May you always hear,
    Even in your hour of sorrow,
    The gentle singing of the lark.
    When times are hard may hardness
    Never turn your heart to stone,
    May you always remember
    when the shadows fall –
    You do not walk alone.

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  6. Ohhh - thank you, anonymous commenter. That made me weep, and I hadn't been able to. So thank you for this beautiful act of kindness and love. It means a great deal. x

    ReplyDelete

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